Well, where to start? 5-6 Years ago I applied for a Capital one card. I was approved and was given a $500 credit limit. I paid the statement on time each and every month. After a year had gone by of having the $500 card, I called in and asked for a credit line increase. I was denied and told that the reason for the denial would be mailed to me. About 10 days later it arrived. The reason? Well here's the reason that they stated to me. In fact, I received 2, Yes, 2 separately mailed denial letters. And they BOTH stated the same thing. They both stated that the reason for my denial was: "We are unable to verify your billing address".

Okay, What!? Unable to verify my billing address but yet they mailed me 2 letters and mailed them to my billing address? What kind of excuse is THAT? Well, I just blew it off. Thinking, Okay, maybe I just need more time to show them my credit worthiness, fine. I'll wait for my time to come. The following year came, year 2 denied, year 3 denied, year 4 denied. Then finally in Nov-Dec of 2012 (Year 5) I again called in but well prepared this time. This time I had a copy of my credit report AND my FICO score in hand. My credit report doesn't have a single blemish (Yes, From all 3 credit agencies) and my FICO score was 686.

Again I was denied a credit line increase!!! The reason? "Capital One is currently not accepting customer initiated credit line increase request at this time." Well then why not state that to me on the phone when I had called in to ask for an increase? Why play make believe on the phone and pretend like your reviewing my account for an increase? Now, this time I told the Capital One representative that I was getting sick and tired of getting BS reasons, and that If I don't have an increase by March 2013 that I was going to close my account at that time.

Now, just to let you know my account balance had been paid in full since October of 2012. So I would give them 6 months to give me an increase, or I was done. I then hang up with Capital One. I now turn to my other credit cards. And begin to call them and ask for an increase on those cards. Discover Card = I had only had my Discover card for about a year. They started me at a credit line of $1, 000. So I call them and ask for a credit line increase, they gave me a $4, 000 credit line increase. Best Buy Mastercard (Now owned by Capital One), I had them for about a year and a half. Started me off at $600, 7 months later raised it to $1, 000.

Now when I called in and asked, they raise it $900.00. Citi Bank Diamond Preferred Credit card + I apply for the first time and they give me a $3, 000 line of credit. But the Capital One card that I have had now for 5 years won't raise my credit line one single cent??

So now March 2013 is here. No increase!! So I then state, “Since you won't increase my limit, what's my interest rate?” The guy says, "It's 22%." I say, “Well then let's get that lowered at least. He says, "I'm sorry sir, I'm unable to do that for you." “You know what? Just close the account then.” And he did so without even a whimper of trying to keep me as a customer. So I close the account, then immediately file a complaint against Capital One with the BBB. 3 Days go by, and a lady from Capital One Corporate Offices calls me regarding my complaint to the BBB.

I pretty much tell her exactly what I'm telling you here. About my 5 years of denial, yet other companies either giving me substantial credit increases or other credit card companies STARTING ME OFF at $3, 000, and yet nothing from Capital One. She asks me how much credit I have on my other CC's. I tell her $5,000 on Discover, $2,500 on my Discover (Walmart), $3, 000 with CitiBank, $7, 000 Wells Fargo CC, and $2, 000 with my Best Buy Mastercard.

She asks me then, "Sir, if we were able to get you a credit line in the ballpark range of your other credit cards, would you consider or be willing to re-open your Capital One card that you closed with us?" I said, “Absolutely!” She then states that she will "talk it over with her colleagues" and see what they can do. This was on Wednesday March 27th. So I'm waiting to see now if Capital One will finally step up to the plate and finally treat me like a "Valued Customer" rather than just saying those words.

Now, right before I wrote this, I logged into my Capital One CLOSED account to see if anything had been changed. Well, to my surprise my account was reopened on Friday March 29th. By whom, I have no idea. I assume the lady at corporate that I had talked to. But the credit line still states $500, we shall see what happens the next few days. I don't mind waiting my turn, but darnit 5 years? To the poor guy that stated he was a member for 10 years, WOW!!

I don't want to hear the words "Conservative" ever again from Capital One. "Conservative" could have been giving me a nickel or dime credit increase, NOW THAT'S CONSERVATIVE! But not giving a penny in 5 years?? To a so called "Valued Customer"? That's what they tell me each year, that I'm a "Valued Customer", LOL. So that's how you treat all of us "Valued Customers"?

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Beware of the Annual Membership Fee

By April - 08/06/2013

Rating: 1/51

I have had a Capital One card since 2003. I recently moved to a different town and received a forwarded bill from Capital One informing me that I owed a $39.00 membership fee by July 21st. I immediately contacted them to update my new mailing address and was informed that now since I did not pay my membership fee on time, I was now being charged a late fee!! I explained that I had just received the letter in the mail that day and that there was a post office delay due to my forwarding address, I also explained that I did not have a chance to update my new address yet but had a zero balance on the account so was not worried about it.

Despite never having paid them late in the 10 years I had the card, they treated me very rude and unprofessional and told me I should have known my membership fee would be due. When I told them that I was a single parent and did not have the extra money to pay for fees I was told that there is nothing they can do to help me. One supervisor hung up on me because she could not effectively justify the fees and her script did not have answers to my questions. I had asked her if she had a Capital One card with a yearly fee and if she felt that it was fair to make me pay a fee in addition to the interest I have paid over the years when I have used the card.

They deducted $10 from the membership fee, but I still had to pay them $29.00 by phone to avoid getting a negative report to my credit bureau. I had told the Capital One representative that I was going to be voicing my horrible experience and cancelling the card. She responded that it was my choice to do that but it wouldn't change my balance that was immediately due. Unfortunately one of my other credit cards was recently bought out by Capital One and I am not happy. I am making this card my first priority to pay off and never ever do business with them again.. ever.

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Additional Info: For Capital One Bank Being the Worst Bank... EVER!

By moneygirl - 02/24/2011

1680 CAPITAL ONE DRIVE, VIRGINIA -- Fine. Since you people need it spelled out for you, and you don't want to take my word for it that this institution is the absolute epitome of incompetence, here goes: On Tuesday, September 14, 2010, a mere 24 hours after capital one's takeover of Chevy Chase savings bank, I happened to go to my local branch's atm to take out a mere $40 from my savings account. When the balance slip came out, I nearly passed out. It said there was only $7,300 in there when I knew there was over $33,000 in there. I immediately called these new "owners" of the bank and could not believe what I was told.

Here I'm using my atm card to take money out of my savings account and these clowns told me that the $40 came out of one of my parents' accounts. How ridiculous is that!! And the reason why? Just because two weeks earlier, we added my name to five of their accounts for the only reason being so I could call the bank and ask questions on their behalf. That's it. My dad is 92. My mom is 88. They don't hear or see too well so I'm trying to help them out. There was never any request or any mention whatsoever of the mingling of my parents' funds with mine. What were they thinking? Oh, yeah, that's right! They weren't!

In October of 2010, my mom went into the bank and changed one of their savings accounts to capital one's "simple savings" in order to get that better 1.1% apy when she was previously getting some joke amount of .25%. So when we got the november statement, the rate was quoted on the statement sheet as being .7%. We made that first call to customer service who told us she was in fact getting 1.1%. They had no explanation as to why their own paperwork clearly said .7%. The december statement came and the same thing happened.

We finally called the local branch manager that my mom deals with to find out what was going on. She admitted to me that upon calling capital one's "customer advocacy" group that there were errors that were providing incorrect information on statements. In november of 2010, they had the wrong social security number for my mom on a cd confirmation mailing. We then called both their "800" customer service number and the local branch manager who assured us that it was only wrong on that cd page, but that their system had the correct number which was confirmed with them on the phone.

So three weeks ago, when my mom got the 1099 in the mail, it still had the wrong social security number. Like it's not bad enough that these idiots had the wrong number on internal paperwork -- now, they're giving the feds the wrong number, too!

What kind of normal bank does not have "transfer" slips? My mom has to do a number of transfer transactions between a checking account and one of my dad's money market accounts that receives electronic deposits of some morgan stanley dividend checks. Every time she has to go in to the branch and fill out a withdrawal slip from the money market, a deposit slip to the checking and ends up receiving three receipts she has to deal with. What a pain!

I could go on, but for what purpose? On the afternoon of february 10, 2011, I made three attempts at calling the office of capital one president and ceo richard fairbank. I know for a fact that his office is right here in mclean, va, the main office for capital one. When I called the main number of 703-720-1000, I specifically asked to be connected to the assistant to richard fairbank. I'm not stupid enough to ask for fairbank himself. Each of the three times I was calling this local mclean, va corp. office, I was connected to a "senior customer service" person either in dallas, texas or other such venue five states away! I highly resent that.

Whenever I have called any ceo's office, I can always be connected to the assistant. So after that miserable treatment, that fine evening of february 10, 2011, I filed an online complaint with the feds -- the office of the comptroller of the currency. That's the group under the treasury department that oversees national banks since the fdic is not over capital one. I believe they need to send their bank examiners into this asylum and do a thorough investigation into the blatant incompetence of this group.

On monday, february 14, I got called by someone at capital one in texas who basically gave me a half-baked apology, saying they would correct my mom's 1099 asap, but hey, what are they going to do about all the other things? The damage is done. Best thing for us to do is simply close out our nine accounts and be gone from these jerks!

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Holding My $1,500 Hostage Against Their Own Policies.

By mdgirl - 06/22/2010

LAUREL, MARYLAND -- After I refinanced my mortgage I changed my auto-payment on the Chevy Chase Bank website to stop paying my mortgage automatically to Capital One (which owns Chevy Chase Bank) because I had refinanced with another lender. However, the "cancel payment" order apparently only applied to a single month, and a month later Capital One auto-deducted a payment of over $1,500.00 from my account. When I saw this deduction had taken place, I called Capital One two days later to tell them this payment had been made in error.

They said that although my checking account showed the deduction, they had no record that they had received the payment (electronically... between their checking division and mortgage division. No record). They said they couldn't resolve it until they showed it had been received. At the end of the week I called again. Now they said the payment had been processed on the day I called, AFTER I called and reported it was an error, but they would not refund it for ten business days because it was their policy to hold all funds for that amount of time before releasing them.

They said it did not matter that I had called before the payment was received, or that the account was closed; it was their policy to hold all funds for ten business days regardless and the money would be refunded to me by check in two weeks (ten business days plus weekends). On the Monday after the supposed "release date," I called to confirm that the check had been mailed. I was given a runaround and the woman kept telling me it was their policy to hold it for ten business days, and then it took the mail 3-5 days to arrive.

She kept repeating this over and over, even after I said multiple times that I understood that and all I wanted was for them to tell me it had been mailed. She said they showed no record of that, but that she would do research and call me back. Needless to say she didn't, so the next day I called back. This time I was told that not only had it not been mailed, but that only the previous day it had been sent to the cash department for processing.

I asked how this was possible because I had called twice before to discuss the problem with them and had been told each time, by multiple individuals, that the problem was on their records and that according to their policies it would be refunded on a specific date. I was told by the service person that she didn't know why, and that she had no time frame for the refund of my money, but that the process of refunding it had just begun the day before.

Now it's 19 days later and even though they have no account associated with these funds, no right or reason to hold it according to their own policies, they're holding it anyway, apparently because they can and won't tell me when or if I'll get it back. They're being bullies, in essence, just for the sake of it. The attitude is, "What are you going to do about it?" I could really use that $1,500, but no amount of calling and explaining or arguing with them is making them give it back. They don't want to, so they won't.

I've been a Chevy Chase Bank customer for over ten years and I actually refinanced that mortgage after they were bought by Capital One specifically because Capital One introduced a bunch of nasty, harassing policies relating to their mortgage division (in short: if I didn't pay by the first of the month, they called to harass me and ask "if you plan to pay your mortgage this month," even though I've never been late and always pay within the grace period, which is completely legal and fine).

I didn't want to do business with them anymore after that, but this is simply a nightmare-- I knew they were bad, but not THIS bad. I'd warn anybody reading this to stay far away from Chevy Chase Bank and Capital One. It's really been a learning experience for me about just how corrupt a bank can be.

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Denied Increase After Brother Murdered

By Jackie - 12/27/2013

Rating: 1/51

CITY OF INDUSTRY, CALIFORNIA -- Oct 5, 2013 my brother was beaten to death by 4 men, one with brass knuckles. His wallet and cell phone were missing when ambulance and police arrived. I called Capital One Bank and requested an increase so I could purchase a ticket to get to my brothers funeral and support my mother and father since I'm the oldest. I have had this account since Apr 2007, never late and I was just asking because I needed to get home. My brothers body was held for two weeks because it was part of a crime scene. I finally borrowed the money to get home.

As consumers we have to stop doing business with those that only lets the money flow one way, into their coffers. I called a few days later and I canceled both accounts. I have been a great, on time paying customer for 7 yrs on the one card and only two on the second. I know they won't go out of business by me taking mine away, but at least their bottom line won't keep getting fat by me since I'm so undervalued. I have a credit card still, but not with them, that's a personal problem I know but I still feel as though since I have been paying bills on time I shouldn't have to wait ten days as I was told by the rep. Since my brothers body was held I did get to attend his funeral.

My mother has lost it and cries nightly about this senseless act. I don't know how I got through it, but I know I don't care for Capital One anymore. Sorry experience, very sorry customer care I think, a multibillion dollar company can't see to take care of those responsible customers that's the reason for their solid growth, not good at all.

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Capital One Changed My 7.9% Fixed Rate CC to Variable 17.9%

By Jan - 07/06/2013

Rating: 1/51

On 7/5/13 I called Capital One to explore if I could reduce my 7.9% fixed interest rate credit card only to learn my Capital One credit card interest rate had been changed to a variable interest rate of 17.9% without my consent. I have held my Capital One credit card since 2003 and have great credit. When I asked why I had never been notified, and that I never consented to a change in terms, I was told Capital One "mailed" me a letter notifying me of the change. When I shared I never received this information, ** (the account supervisor) stated Capital One reserves the right at any time to modify the terms of a written contract.

I am very concerned with this arbitrary practice and have decided to no longer use my Capital One credit card. While I do not like posting negative comments online, I do believe it necessary to educate others so they are fully aware of organizational practices prior to signing contracts. If you have a Capital One credit card, please call customer service and inquire about your current interest rate. If you too have had your interest rate modified without your consent, discontinue using the card immediately.

Do not cancel the card as it may negatively impact your credit history depending on how long you have held the card. Given the length of my history with the card, I cannot cancel the card, but Capital One will no longer receive my business through my use of the card.

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Avoid Capital One and Affiliates at All Costs

By N.H. - 06/10/2013

Rating: 1/51

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- After being charged outrageous interest for an extended period, and despite many calls and letters to GM card (formerly HSBC - Now Capital One) I have not been unable to speak with anyone who actually seems like a human being. It almost seems the customers service agents are "numb" to dealing with irate customers, which is a really bad sign. I was never late, never missed a payment, they just arbitrarily decided to raise my interest rate to 29.9% and bury the opt out notice in fine print on the back of one of the last pages of a monthly statement.

So now I'm trying to pay this off completely and they won't even give me a straight answer as to the amount so they can keep me "on the hook" and charge more fees. They've closed my account and lowered the credit limit to within a few dollars what was owed so any interest automatically gets them an over limit fee. Note they also "trolled" their system and found a Best Buy card I had and cut the credit line by 85%. So I called to pay that one off too - same evasive methods. Unscrupulous, unethical, and evasive. Any consumer should avoid them at all costs.

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Scammed Into Paying Off Credit Card Early

By Summer - 02/25/2013

Rating: 1/51

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- I have a platinum Capital One card I wanted to used to rent a car because it provided insurance saving me $20 a day with the rental agency. At the airport while out of town I called the credit card company to pay down my balance enough in order to have the funds for the rental transaction. I was told the only way for it to go through immediately was to pay Western Union or moneygram and call them back with the transaction number, all other methods would be the next day.

I was fine with this and found an airport terminal with a Western Union where I set up this transaction paying over $400. I called back with the number for it to go through to be told it would not go through for two more days. My account had been over balance for 28 days which could not be released. So the lie by the first agency was in order to trick me into paying off my entire balance when I could have just paid them $80 as my regular payment. They tricked me into spending all of my travel money on the card that was not unavailable to me.

Also I had to pay for the rental car agencies scam insurance (I don't own a car and have private insurance). This cost me another $20 a day for the length of my trip adding up to another 200. I can't split the rental into different transactions and it must go on that scam of a card with Capital One in order to get the insurance. The agents the second time around told me first it would be available tomorrow then realized they were again correct and it would be available in a few more days because of the cut off time and weekend.

In response to stealing $600 dollars from me and ruining my vacation they gave me a $35 credit. If I had not been lied to in the first call I would have just had to pay the expensive insurance and be done with it. Now I have paid off a credit card and paid for the expensive insurance because they are scam artists.

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Horrible Service

By Alex - 12/01/2012

Rating: 1/51

IRATE. I have never been so angry with a company in my life. Granted I screwed up and never paid my credit card bills, and it ending up in collections, I eventually got my ** straight and paid it off. HOWEVER, once I logged online to double check and make sure everything was taken care of, there was still a balance! I spoke to the highest person I could through the collection agency and they told me that the balance was completely zeroed out, so anything that shows up online would be Capital One's work, but I should give it another week JUST IN CASE. I did. In fact, I waited two. 30 days later, I still have a outstanding balance when I log online.

I called Capital One directly, and since the foreign girl couldn't help me, I asked for her supervisor. His name was **. He's the most pathetic excuse for a Senior Supervisor. He refused to connect me with his supervisor, and told me he's only allowed to contact that person if there's some problem he just cannot fix. Well, he couldn't fix mine, so who else am I supposed to contact?

I understand, "Kill them with kindness." Oh he did that alright. He also hung up on me. Professional? I told him that I will come back to him and the company as a whole if this outstanding balance ** with my credit. Since Capital One seems to be high and mighty enough to not have a customer service line for service compliments or complaints, I guess I'll just broadcast it everywhere I can!

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Corporate Oxymorons

By Bo12345678 - 10/10/2012

Rating: 1/51

VIRGINIA -- When a credit card company holds up payment to one of their accounts by the customer, then it goes without saying the company is not in business to make money, but for its health, rest and relaxation! I discovered this in talking to the corporate level employees. It is very clear they are in business for their own SELF SERVING INTEREST and not the customer who pays the bill. It is a good thing there are other choices.. After knowing some of their polices, they do as they please, rules or no rules and that is a fact in my case.